Sikkim registers first case as man back from Delhi tests positive

SILIGURI: Sikkim on Saturday reported its first coronavirus disease (Covid-19) case after a man who had returned from Delhi tested positive, a state government official said.

The 25-year-old man who had returned to Sikkim on May 19 was sent to a quarantine facility upon his return along with 11 others.

On May 21, he developed fever and was shifted to a hospital in Gangtok on Friday.

His swab samples were sent to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri, West Bengal.

“The test report came Covid-19 positive,” said state health secretary Pempa Bhutia.

Bhutia said the man from south Sikkim was staying in Delhi’s Haiderpur area as a paying guest along with some other people.

“All those who had returned with him are in facility quarantine and all of them would be tested,” said Bhutia.

The driver of the bus which carried them from Siliguri to Sikkim will also be tested, officials said.

The development has come a day after the Sikkim government announced the decision to resume classes for some classes to the college level starting June 15.

Chief minister Prem Singh Tamang has been reiterating that the real challenge would begin once those stranded in other states start returning following a the relaxation of norms.

Sikkim was among the first states to seal interstate and international borders and ban the entry of tourists and migrant labourers in March, when the pandemic was in its early stages in the country.